Why are we so eager to choose smaller, well-designed bungalows? These homes have great potential that is worth discovering.
Small, but our own.
A small single-storey house is the object of many a young family's dreams. Living in rented accommodation or with their parents, they dream of having a home of their own. We choose small single-storey house designs because they are inexpensive to build and straightforward to construct. They provide the certainty of an economical investment and much greater comfort than living in an apartment block. It is an excellent choice when we want to move into our own home quickly. The ground floor usually consists of several bedrooms and an open-plan daytime living area. A living room with a kitchen plus two additional rooms offers more than a standard apartment in a block. There is also a bathroom, boiler room and sometimes a utility room or laundry room. In addition, single-storey houses can be chosen with a garage, which increases the usable space. We can fit a great deal into 70–80 m² if we choose a good, well-considered house design. Ideally, it should offer not only functional ground-floor space but also the possibility of adapting the attic.
The attic's potential – choose the right design
Which house designs are best suited to attic adaptation? There are several principles that a suitable house should meet. Above all, there must be enough space beneath the roof to make it possible to use the additional area freely.
Space beneath the roof
In this case, it is best to choose house designs with a roof pitch of 30–35 degrees. This allows us to create enough space in the attic without having to alter the height of the knee wall. By choosing an 80 m² house design, we can arrange approximately 40–50 m² of additional usable floor area in the attic. This significantly increases the possibilities offered by our home. The ceiling is also important.
A solid ceiling
A house design in which we intend to adapt the attic should include a ceiling designed to carry the loads resulting from using the upper floor. Ideally, it should be a cast-in-place reinforced-concrete ceiling or a prefabricated Teriva-type ceiling. This solution allows the space to be arranged freely, partition walls to be installed and internal services to be distributed.
Adequate natural lighting
For the attic to be a comfortable place to live, it needs an adequate amount of sunlight. To achieve this, the attic's lighting should be carefully planned using roof windows. The right number and placement of these windows will make it possible to create a pleasant relaxation area in any attic. It is worth choosing single-storey house designs that already include windows in the gable walls. You can find an interesting collection of single-storey houses at: https://www.galeriadomow.pl/projekty-domow-parterowych
Balancing the benefits
By choosing a single-storey house design with the option of adapting the attic, we can only gain. The balance is entirely on the side of benefits, not losses. How worthwhile is such an investment? There are several key benefits of choosing a single-storey house:
- we build a single-storey house that can remain that way forever while still providing a comfortable place to live for the whole family—in other words, we CAN adapt the attic, but we do not HAVE TO
- until the attic is adapted, we pay lower property tax
- we have complete freedom in arranging the attic—the space is open, so we can arrange it as we wish
- until the attic is adapted, we do not incur the cost of heating it
- we gain additional space that can be used in any way—a living area, gym, exercise room, children's play area or free office space for business purposes—there are many ideas, and everyone will find something for themselves.
Single-storey house designs with the option of individually adapting the attic are an excellent choice for families planning to grow in size. They are an ideal solution when a family's housing needs suddenly increase.
This is also the right choice for those with a strictly planned investment budget who intend to extend the building in the future. It is an option for bold investors who never have the final say.